1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for removing material from elongated members through the use of compressed air. This invention further relates to an airwipe device that is configured to accommodate an elongated member having a known cross-sectional area traveling through varying air pressures of known densities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacturing of wire, or other similar elongated products, there is a need for removing liquids from the surface of the product. For example, in the production of wire cooling fluids or cleansing acids are removed from the wire prior to spooling, storage, or subsequent processing. It is known in this art to use compressed air to remove liquid from wire as it passes through a tube. Generally, compressed air is vented into the tube through tangentially directed holes and the liquid is removed by the force of the pressurized air traveling in the opposite direction of the moving wire. There have been numerous problems associated with past attempts to remove liquid from moving elongated members using such prior art methods.
Notably, air wiping devices (or "airwipes" as they are known to those skilled in this art) waste energy in attempting to remove fluid or particulate matter from a moving elongated member. This occurs largely because the tube in which the pressurized air meets or encounters the moving elongated member is the wrong size to efficiently use the available energy stored in the compressed air within close proximity to the elongated member. Similarly, the air passages that deliver the compressed air to the wire are not conventionally configured to deliver an efficient amount of compressed air based upon the cross-sectional dimensions of the elongated member and the tube. As a consequence, decompression of the air (release of energy) occurs away from the elongated member and the fluid or particulate matter is not efficiently removed.